Drug-induced antinuclear antibodies in the guinea pig

Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) development was studied in male guinea pigs in response to chronic treatment with procainamide, hydralazine, acetanilide or caffeine. Acetanilide and caffeine have not previously been associated with ANA induction. Fifty-one weanling Hartley guinea pigs were divided into five groups which received either procainamide, hydralazine, acetanilide, caffeine or saline sc for 55 weeks; drug dosage was 10 mg/kg initially and was increased incrementally to 40 mg/kg by 10 months except for hydralazine, which was increased to 20 mg/kg. Two weeks before initiation of treatment, 1 mg of the appropriate drug in 0.4 ml of buffered Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA-PBS) was administered intradermally. Controls received FCA-PBS only. Sera ANA were assayed at 6, 10 and 13 months. After 13 months of treatment, those sera which were ANA positive were assayed for anti-deoxyribonucleoprotein antibodies and were titered for ANA. Chi-square analyses were performed on results of the 10- and 13-month ANA screening results. ANA induction was significant at P = 0.05 only for the group receiving procainamide at both 10 and 13 months of treatment. When the cumulative results of all ANA screens were analyzed, ANA induction was significant for procainamide, acetanilide and caffeine. The test system did not prove to be promising for unambiguous identification of drugs with ANA-inducing potential, but may be useful for studies of mechanisms of ANA induction by chemicals.